Adventures in Central and Southern Utah

This weekend I was able to accompany some youth, including my oldest son, on a church sponsored trip to Central and Southern Utah to do some hiking. Photos from the adventure are below.

Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon, Utah. June 14, 2018. Photo by Abel Keogh

Little Wild Horse Canyon, Utah. June 14, 2018. Photo by Abel Keogh.

Wild Horse Butte, Utah. June 14, 2018. Photo by Abel Keogh

Goblin Valley, Utah. June 14, 2018. Photo by Abel Keogh

Goblin Valley, Utah. June 14, 2018. Photo by Abel Keogh

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah. June 15, 2018. Photo by Abel Keogh

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah. June 15, 2018. Photo by Abel Keogh

Spring Soccer in Utah

 

Five years and one job ago I worked with someone whose wife coached soccer. While he was supportive of his wife, every spring he would comment that he hated the spring soccer season because it was always cold and/or rainy and/or windy. At the time, I didn't think much about what he said. Our boys were two young to play organized sports and I was leaning more toward putting them in other sports.

Years have passed. The older boys have gravitated toward basketball and football. Our oldest daughter prefers gymnastics and tumbling. The five year old watches with insane jealously every time they go to practice or compete at their games. Last fall we put in him soccer because that's the only sport they allow pre-kindergarten students to play. He loved it and enjoyed every moment of it. All winter he talked about wanting to play it again. February rolled around and so it was time for spring soccer signups. While I was in the process of registering him, the thought flashed through my mind what my co-worker said about the weather. I looked at the calendar and realized games didn't start until April and figured the weather wouldn't be much of an issue.

April rolled around and the season started. All the practices have been ice cold. All the games have been rainy or windy. My five year old has had a blast but it's been less than enjoyable for me and the other parents to watch the games and practices in such conditions. Last Saturday was his only bye week. That day it was 80 degrees and sunny. The forecast for his game tomorrow is 58 degrees with a 60% chance of rain.

The gods look down and laugh.

Wearing Shorts in the Winter: A Utah Thing?

I took the above photograph at a college football game I attended with my kids on Saturday. Please note that the person wearing a hoodie near the bottom is also wearing shorts.

While some people may be surprised at seeing someone wearing shorts in such conditions, it’s not an uncommon site in Utah. In fact I counted three people at the game who were dressed in a similar fashion.

Wearing shorts in the winter was something that became popular back when I was high school. (I never did it simply because my mom would have killed me for dressing like that in the winter.) Based on the way I see teenagers dressed when out in public, apparently is still is. If it was just the kid in the photograph, I would have chalked it up to being young and fashionable. But the other two people I saw had to be in their late twenties or early thirties. And when I posted the picture on Twitter, another Utahan mentioned that she saw someone wearing flip-flops during the storm.

While I can kind of see being able to justify wearing shorts in the winter when one is going to spend their the day in school or some other warm place indoors, wearing them to a football game when there’s a foot of snow on the ground, temperatures are near freezing, and it snowed during half the game is very perplexing.

On the way home from the game I started wondering whether or not wearing shorts in freezing weather is a Utah thing or part of a larger trend I don’t know about. When I lived in Wyoming for two years immediately after high school, I don’t recall seeing anyone wearing shorts in the winter whether at college or anywhere else in public. So, readers, I want to hear from you. Do they do this North Dakota or Canada when there’s a blizzard outside? What about New Hampshire? Is Utah the only place where this is cool? Let me know in the comments below.

Getting a Utah Driver's License is Like Getting an Anal Exam

Big thumbs down on Utah’s more restrictive driver’s license requirements.

After going through the requisite, but metaphorical, anal exam to renew my license today, I wondering if the legislators who passed the law are more concerned with people's citizenship then keeping unsafe drivers off the road.

In the past renewing a Utah driver's license, providing you had no points or citations on your record, was easy. You filled out a form, wrote a check, and mailed it in or do the entire process online. Two weeks later you’d get a renewal sticker. Only once every 10 years did you actually have to show up in person to renew. And aside from the requisite long line to stand it, getting a new one was pretty straight forward.

Now, it seems, the Utah Department of Public Safety is more concerned with applicants' citizenship status than whether or not they can actually drive. Whether you’re renewing your driver's license or getting a new one, you have to provide proof of citizenship along with a host of other proof of residence documents. (For a full list of what’s required, click here.)

So when I showed up this morning, I came with a birth certificate, social security card, a bank and utility statement (dated within the last 60 days). All of my documents were examined twice. After the second examination, my birth certificate and social security cared were scanned into their computer. (I assume they’re now part of some Big Brother database.) Amazingly they didn’t ask for a DNA or blood sample.

Don’t misunderstand. I have no problem ensuring driver license applicants are Utah residents before issuing them a Utah driver's license. However, I’d rather see more concern for keeping unsafe drivers off the roads than non-U.S citizens from driving. I’d rather share the road with 10 non-U.S. residents who know how to drive then one citizen of this great country who can’t. (And based on my daily commute to work, there are plenty Utah residents/US Citizens who can’t.)

Instead of worrying about citizenship, a smarter way to go would be to have every non-citizen or non-Utah resident applying for a driver's license take a driving test. If you don't pass you don't get a driver's license. Apply for a State ID card instead. All the new rules will accomplish is discouraging non-U.S. citizens from applying for a driver's license.

Sadly, having safe drivers behind the wheel seems to be the last thing on the minds of the wise, all-knowing elected officials in Salt Lake and the bureaucrats at Utah Department of Public Safety.

Utah's Gary Coleman Obsession II

The Utah media's morbid fixation with with Gary Colman continues.

This guy sneezes and the local media runs 2 minute news clips and front page stories about the guy. Maybe if they stop giving him attention, he'll move to another celebrity-deprived state like Iowa and start torturing the people there with his antics.

Video deposition of Gary Coleman will not be released by Janice Peterson - Daily Herald

A judge ruled Tuesday that the videotaped deposition of Gary Coleman will not be released to the public until a personal injury lawsuit against him has been settled.

Coleman's attorney, Terry Plant, argued that if the video is released, it could quickly get onto Web sites like YouTube and destroy Coleman. Judge Samuel McVey agreed that releasing the video could be harmful, but he said he worried about the likelihood of a fair trial if people in the jury pool see the deposition.

"I do not want to come in here and have the whole jury challenged off," he said.

The attorney for plaintiff Colt Rushton, Dustin Lance, objected to keeping the deposition sealed, saying the likelihood of a fair trial is the same whether the video is released or not. Many people around the county already know all about the case from media reports, and Coleman is just asking for special privileges, he said.

"We've got an uphill battle," Lance said. "This case has already been tried in the media."

Read the rest of the article here.

Why Even Listen to Weathermen?

Yesterday Radio Weatherman: A storm will be heading through Utah tomorrow just in time for the morning commute. Don’t worry about this one. We’ll be lucky to see an inch of snow in the valleys. This one’s going to blow right by.

Today

Radio Weatherman: This storm is really pounding the Wasatch front making the commute a nightmare. It looks like it might be here well into the afternoon dropping several inches in the valleys. If you haven’t left for work already, you’re in for a long drive.